But while experience (and confidence) is extremely important in the IT services industry, complacency is the enemy. The rapidly changing pace of technology does not leave room for “Well, that worked 3 years ago.” For the sake of our clients – small and mid-size businesses in the Northeast – iCorps is constantly striving to balance technology innovation with the unique business needs and growth goals of each of our clients.

Those of us in the IT world know that the idea of a software upgrade is typically accompanied by a dollar amount. So if we hear “free” and “upgrade” in the same sentence, we’re going to do our due diligence to find out what the catch is.

Is your company prepared for when disaster strikes? Whether you are running a company or the IT department, it's imperative that you are prepared for the worst - and ensure your business-critical data and applications are secure at all times. The term "disaster" often makes us think of hurricanes and tornados - events that are life changing. But in reality, computer viruses, transformer malfunction or building collapse are also "disasters" because any of these events could negatively impact business continuity and your company's bottom line. Check out these alarming stats below to see the impact a disaster can have on a business.

It’s a name that’s making a lot of headlines in the cloud storage and business worlds: Microsoft Azure. Those who are on the platform (like iCorps) already know and are reaping the benefits. Those who are not already on the platform… well, let’s just assume they haven’t heard much about it.

When it comes to your IT network, it is easy to adopt a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude. If your network is performing with limited interruption, then why create headaches that don’t exist, right? That logic might make sense if you were thinking short-term about your business. But in working with hundreds of SMBs across the Northeast, we know that long-term thinking and planning is a must when it comes to creating a symbiotic relationship between technology and business that will ultimately drive your company forward.

By now you’ve likely heard about the St. Louis Cardinals Organization being investigated by the FBI for hacking into the Houston Astros internal database, where they allegedly stole scouting reports, player statistics, potential trade targets and other pertinent information that was only meant to be seen by those within the Astros organization. Considering the other violent crimes going on throughout the world today, this may seem to some like a small white collar crime committed by a couple of fantasy baseball geeks trying to gain a competitive edge. However, people are failing to realize that Major League Baseball is a $36 BILLION dollar business, and by hacking into one of its billion dollar organizations, the consequences could be heavy and could quite possibly result in some serious jail time for the perpetrators. It just proves, that if this can happen to the MLB, it can happen to anyone. If you’re looking to avoid cyber-attacks from hackers, competitors or even former employees, start with these simple tips.

Technology provides key support for today’s business operations. But despite expanding reliance on technology, growing IT complexity, mounting IT workloads, and aging hardware and software – tech budgets are not increasing proportionately.

Cloud computing carries a big promise: the removal of information technology (IT) burdens such as running internal servers and dedicating IT staff to back-end administrative tasks.

The good news is that cloud solutions like Microsoft’s Office 365 can indeed cut IT overhead, provided they are done right. The bad news: if you leap into a cloud solution without addressing vital IT considerations, you could face technology limitations and complexities down the road.

So just what are these potential pitfalls and how can you best take advantage of a solution like Office 365?

One of the bad raps often associated with outsourcing is the loss of internal jobs. It’s not uncommon for an IT outsourcing company to experience the same stigma when interacting with IT Managers and Administrators.

Whether it was connecting with your son or daughter in college or checking in on your grandmother on the West Coast, chances are you’ve had some experience with using Skype. Microsoft is counting on that familiarity now as it rolls out Skype for Business, the next generation of Lync.

Businesses today face a rapidly changing technology landscape that is driving fresh standards – as well as new customer demands – for how we work, how we communicate, and how we deliver our services and products.

As a result, IT is no longer just about managing performance and reliability. (Tweet this!)

In the world of professional services, your ability to adapt to and adopt technology advancements can either inhibit or springboard the development of your competitive differentiators and opportunities to “step up” service to your customers.

Did you know that more people are worried about having their computer or smartphone hacked than they are of getting mugged or their car stolen?

Sixty-two percent of people recently surveyed by Gallup frequently or occasionally worry about having their computer or smartphone hacked and their information being stolen. In comparison, 31% worry about getting mugged and AND only 18% of people were concerned about being murdered.

Fertility Centers of New England, an iCorps client, personally delivered a tray of cinnamon buns to our Boston headquarters on Tuesday morning after receiving some appreciated support from our Network Operations Center. Fertility Centers' phones went down last week and an iCorps engineer worked with the phone company to get the issue resolved.

Hammers pounding. Cranes raising. Drills spinning. Saws cutting. Envisioning the process of building and construction typically conjures up sounds and images of power tools and large equipment… not laptops, smartphones and tablets. But the truth is that a significant number of construction employees rely heavily on technology – and use a keyboard and a mobile phone more frequently than they use a hammer or saw.

Some of you may be laughing at us right now. Cloud computing? How 2012 of them. But for those of you still lost in the clouds (we couldn’t resist), you’re probably still not quite sure why you should really care. It seems that technology moves faster than we mere humans can blink. So is “the cloud” just another fad or is this bandwagon really worth jumping?

How Outsourcing Can Empower Your In-house IT Team

We get it. You have executives to answer to, team members to keep happy, and a business to keep up and running. The day-to-day IT demands often make it difficult (maybe even impossible) to prioritize long-term growth and planning. The problem is that… 3, 4, 5 years down the line, you know they’ll be looking at you again for answers - “Why haven’t we innovated? Why is our email slow? WHY are we behind? Why aren't we on the cloud?”

You have many options, many pain points and likely, many questions. The task of finding the right IT service provider or consulting company can be daunting without a roadmap. The following simple checklist of do’s and don’ts can help guide you through the process.